English

On pure monomorphisms and pure epimorphisms in accessible categories

Category Theory 2026-02-04 v4

Abstract

In all κ\kappa-accessible additive categories, κ\kappa-pure monomorphisms and κ\kappa-pure epimorphisms are well-behaved, as shown in our previous paper arXiv:2311.02418. This is known to be not always true in κ\kappa-accessible nonadditive categories. Nevertheless, mild assumptions on a κ\kappa-accessible category are sufficient to prove good properties of κ\kappa-pure monomorphisms and κ\kappa-pure epimorphisms. In particular, in a κ\kappa-accessible category with finite products, all κ\kappa-pure monomorphisms are κ\kappa-directed colimits of split monomorphisms, while in a κ\kappa-accessible category with finite coproducts, all κ\kappa-pure epimorphisms are κ\kappa-directed colimits of split epimorphisms. We also discuss what we call Quillen exact classes of monomorphisms and epimorphisms, generalizing the additive concept of one-sided exact category.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2506.13374,
  title  = {On pure monomorphisms and pure epimorphisms in accessible categories},
  author = {Leonid Positselski},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2506.13374},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

LaTeX 2e with xy-pic; 42 pages, 43 commutative diagrams; v.3: new Lemmas 6.1 and 8.1 inserted, proofs of Theorems 7.1 and 9.1 updated and proofs of Propositions 12.1 and 14.1 simplified based on two new lemmas, proof of what is now Lemma 8.5 shortened, details added in the proof of Lemma 1.6, references to [1] added in the second paragraph of the Introduction; v.4: part (a) added in Lemma 8.1